


Bring Me Down Fighting

by desreelee123



Category: Gossip Girl
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Politics, American Politics, F/M, Minor Character Death, Non-Explicit, Non-Explicit Sex, Political Campaigns, Politics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 10:45:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7571224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/desreelee123/pseuds/desreelee123
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Her invasion of his life is like the Spanish Inquisition. And Dan Humphrey knows that Blair Waldorf never, ever takes no for an answer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bring Me Down Fighting

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Warnings for OOCness on Dan Humphrey's part but considering him being Gossip Girl, if there is really any actual credence to the claim, I think this is a likely scenario. Politics!AU Blair and Dan are political consultants. Serena is a politician, believe it or not. Comment if you liked it...or hated it. I always like comments. Kudos though if you loved it.

I.  
Her invasion of his life is like the Spanish Inquisition. Inevitable. Unavoidable through the slew of chaos that constitutes the stuff that makes up their lives.

She is fierce. Unrelenting. A force of nature.

A heart beating. A handshake. A barely-concealed sneer here and there.

It's like they were made for each other.

II.  
It's her comeback, her homecoming really, from a decade-long hiatus, from a decade-long denial of what she really is and what she was really meant for in this life.

He's on the trail with Tripp Vanderbilt. She's on the trail with his rival, Serena van der Woodsen. Her client has just fired her former political consultant for incompetencies that were quite obvious from the beginning. (The truth is, the consultancy has been on his client's payroll from the very beginning, courtesy of him.)

It took someone like Blair Waldorf to notice it. (A very worthy replacement in Dan's book. It was clever really.)

No one gets past the Queen after all.

III.  
"Waldorf," he greets curtly, a barely-grin plastered all over his face. They are in his client's poltical rally. The tall, slick, handsome blond that is William Vanderbilt III is dressed in a navy blue pinstripe Armani, sporting a megaphone as he riles up his supporters, who are getting increasingly revved up by the minute. There's no denying the energy that is crackling over the crowd. (Or the bigotry spewing out of Tripp's mouth. That is his campaign platform after all. "To bring back America.")

"Humphrey," she wrinkles her nose as she appraises him, "with your fees I would think you could afford a better outfit than those clearance sale rags you so brazenly choose to wear."

"Ah yes, the signature Waldorf wit," he laughs, making sure to sound mocking and derisive. "I have missed that."

"Well I'm sure," she says with a sneer. Crossing her velvet gloved-arms together, she plows on, "Vanderbilt looks like he is doing quite well these days. Divorce with Maureen going better than expected?"

"You're one to talk, Waldorf. Van der Woodsen isn't exactly a saint."

Blair only smiles. Wicked. Sharklike.

It almost sends a shiver down his spine.

"You would know wouldn't you?"

IV.  
Somehow, the protesters that were blockaded from the park where the Vanderbilt camp was holding its political rally find a way to bypass the police and hired private security guards. The resulting skirmish is quite expected, yet quite vexing at the same time. CNN arrives on the scene in less than half an hour, along with an army of other reporters from other news networks vying for a fresh, juicy new scoop for the 6pm news.

Vanderbilt is evacuated abruptly and the rally is postponed halfway.

Dan can't say he is surprised.

V.  
Gossip Girl releases a picture of Serena van der Woodsen kissing another man at the back of a limo that is not her husband. Twitter goes crazy over the picture followed by the news networks almost immediately afterward. The more reputable ones don't exactly address the photo as official news but addresses the possibility of its veracity and the ruckus it is causing. The more shady tabloids broadcast it as gospel truth, piggybacking on Serena's notorious history as a former socialite with an inclination towards men.

Either way, the news sell like hotcakes. And it does help that Blair happens to know just who the culprit is. Everyone who ever lived on the Upper East Side knows that Gossip Girl was Dan Humphrey's little social experiment in high school although it still strikes her as shocking that he still keeps the website alive. (But there is no doubting that she is more than a little impressed.)

"Why is this happening Blair?" the tall, statuesque blonde who also happens to probably be one of the dumbest politicians Blair has ever met demands. If she wasn't her so-called "best friend", she wouldn't even have taken a second look at the woman. "You're supposed to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen. This'll damage my reputation!"

A pause.

And then: "Blair, I don't know what to do."

"Chuck's already calling his friends from San Francisco to see what they can do for you and that gossip site and I've already sent out word that the photo was fabricated and that you are willing to go to court and sue the site for libel and slander," Blair says in a calm tone, trying to assuage her client, "as for now, I'll advise you to talk to your husband and see if he's willing to go to public and tell the world that he's appalled by this attack and that he will stand by you at all costs. That'll help mitigate the damage."

Not to mention she's already paid off the young man Serena was caught fooling around with. He's probably on his way to Ibiza right now on a first-class flight. It's no big deal, really.

Serena sits on a plush chair and wraps her arms around herself. Until now, Blair Waldorf can't help but wonder how this woman managed to snag the Democratic nomination.

"Thank you Blair," the beautiful woman says softly. "Thank you for doing this for me."

Blair just looks at her and smiles ruefully.

A part of the brunette undoubtedly knows that she's only really doing this for herself. This is a vengeance long overdue. An unsettled score. Help Serena win to get back at Tripp. The country be damned.

Not that Serena doesn't have a vendetta of her own though. Blair, of all people, knows that this is just Serena's coup de grace to her ex, or exes, depending on how one looks at it because ironically they both happen to be working together.

In the end, all of this is just them dealing with their emotional baggage. 

Who said that there was nothing personal about this anyway?

VI.  
This is what happened before the great Blair Waldorf retreated into the Hamptons for ten years.

It was an accident, really. A minor infraction that she had failed to foresee.

All thanks to Tripp Vanderbilt.

There was a mayor named Howard "The Captain" Archibald. He had a son named Nathaniel who is commonly referred to by his friends as Nate. Blair Waldorf was still new to the whole consultancy scene back then even though she already had a few clients under her belt. This client was a longtime client and friend of her mother's, Eleanor Waldorf, who started the firm with her ex-husband, Harold.

Howard Archibald was running for his second term as Mayor of New York against Tripp. And Blair Waldorf was very much in love with Nate Archibald though he didn't quite seem to return the sentiment.

But Blair Waldorf would go to hell and back for her prince.

Problem was, there really isn't enough room for heart in their line of work and Blair Waldorf had too much heart buried under all the designer dresses and sass.

But that was back then. The Hamptons became her chrysalis.

VII.  
"HOWARD ARCHIBALD INDICTED FOR COCAINE POSSESSION AND EMBEZZLEMENT," the headlines read.

Anne Archibald committed suicide two days after the news hit the papers. Tripp won the position by default.

Nate never really got past that.

And neither did she.

VIII.  
They all went to school together in New York. Back then, Dan Humphrey was an awkward fool who put on a strong front amongst Manhattan's golden boys and girls. After all, what can a Brooklynite on a scholarship do? The only other option is for him to be subservient and act like he really is below them. And he's never going to do that. No way in hell. So he makes a website and pretends he's King.

Blair Waldorf had always been Queen.

Serena van der Woodsen had always been a goddess.

(What's a Queen to a Goddess anyway? The world can have a hundred queens and they still woudn't match Aphrodite's light.)

They never really grew up. 

XI.  
Serena gets elected to office by a very, very close margin. 

Dan Humphrey isn't really shocked when he receives the news though Tripp Vanderbilt is undoubtedly fuming. He gets a scathing call from his employer, as expected.

Serena van der Woodsen always gets what she wants, a truth which Dan knows by heart.

(He still can't help but be amazed at how good Serena really is at politicking. He wonders who put her up to it at Brown.)

The politician, who is now his ex-client, vacates the campaign offices and boards his private jet to New York and gets drunk on too many Cabernet Sauvignons while on the plane.

Dan still gets paid.

His team gets ready for Mexico.

X.  
A knock sounds on Humphrey's hotel room the night after Serena's first day in office. He pauses shaving for a moment and yells, "Who is it?"

"Room service," a familiar feminine voice drawls sarcastically. Dan puts down his shaver and goes to open the door. 

He is dressed in nothing but a towel.

Blair Waldorf doesn't even flinch or blush or do any of those stupid quirks that girls usually do when they see a guy in only a towel.

Instead she sneers at him. The sequins on her headband glints menacingly against the hallway lights. She has barely aged a day since ten years ago.

She can't have been more beautiful in his eyes.

"Honestly Humphrey. I know you're from Brooklyn but didn't your dad teach you to put on some clothes when you answer the door?"

"Good evening to you too Waldorf," he smiles. (The awkward Dan Humphrey is long gone, burnt to a crisp and buried in a grave deeper than the Pacific.)

"I'm heading back to New York tomorrow," she states. "And I just wanted to tell you that you made this campaign quite…something. A challenge to behold. A warm-up, basically. Something to get me back on my saddle."

"Your welcome Waldorf," he says then adds dryly, "I love you too."

"Fuck you Humphrey," she spits and that's when he notices that her eyes aren't quite as focused as it usually is.

That's the only warning he gets before she steps through the doorway and shoves him against the cabinet.

XI.  
When Dan Humphrey was sixteen, he wanted to become a writer.

But dreams are only dreams, right?

XII.  
Her dress, a vintage Yves Saint Laurent that's patterned after one of Catherine Deneuve's many dresses in Belle du Jour, is a crumpled heap on the floor by the end of the night along with her lambskin Louboutin pumps.

Humphrey's towel finds its way on the wooden desk by the window.

The sex is full of biting and scratching and competition for dominance.

It's not sweet or vanilla or fairytale-like.

Just the way they like it.

XIII.  
Serena and Dan were once an item.

He always had a proclivity for things he couldn't have.

XIV.  
Humphrey wakes up to an empty bed the next morning.

Beside him is a note that reads:

Until next time Cabbage Patch.

XV.  
Mexico is hot and humid. It reeks of corruption, poverty and politics.

It reminds him of the Upper East Side, sans the poverty.

This, this is what the real world looks like, he thinks.

His client is a young representative aspiring to be mayor. She's confident, a natural go-getter with an eye for fashion.

She has dark caramel eyes that reminds him of a certain woman from New York.


End file.
